After years of waiting, April saw the first major moves for years in Saudi Arabia’s desalination market, with two huge projects awarded within 24 hours of each other. The Red Sea port of Shoaiba marks the epicentre of activity as the market continues to unfold.

After half a decade of torpor, the Saudi Arabian desalination market – the largest in the world – sprang back into life this month with two major contract awards that are set to boost the country’s water supply portfolio.

The two plants at Shoaiba, south of Jeddah, will between them supply 650,000m³/d of water to the Mecca province. They are set to mark the start of what the...